jack points

cldlhd · Dec 2, 2015

I'm sure this has been gone over before but bear with me. I just picked up my 2016 Golf SE on Saturday night and was wondering about the pinch welds and best way to raise and support the car with my own hydraulic jack and stands ( Esco 10499's ).Is the weight of the car supposed to be supported by the reinforced pinch weld ( runs perpendicular to the ground ) or the flat metal on either side of the pinch weld that runs parallel to the ground? Or maybe both? A peek at the factory jack may enlighten me but only had the car 4 days and it's rained for 3. I just got one of those side lift jack pads and the groove is so deep that the pinch welds bottom doesn't make contact with it and all the weight would be on the metal on the sides of the pinch welds. That looks ok at the back but the front pinch welds have underbody plastic trim that almost butts up against it and the trim would be crushed by the jack pad.The pinch weld looks reinforced to the point where I imagine it"s meant to hold the weight and not merely keep the jack head in place. I'm thinking about getting a hockey puck and cutting a groove to match the depth of the factory jack head.

ReadTheBook · Dec 2, 2015

There are factory jack pad points that you can install. The pinch welds work fine though.

Kevinm outlines the jack pads he got in this post. http://www.golfmk7.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3266&page=2

I used my pinch welds and my floor jack w/ a dremeled out hockey puck to fit those pinch welds properly. I put the rear jack stands on the points outlined in the above post (w/o jack pads present) and my front jack stands on the front area of the subframe where the subframe is connected to the rest of the chassis.

ReadTheBook · Dec 2, 2015

Like this.

lou06483 · Dec 2, 2015

FWIW-I've used a saddle made for the pinch weld --looks similar to the end of the jack that VW provides....Simply remove the existing saddle on your jack and install the new saddle---I've been using the same device since 1979 and it works on both my Audi and VW's --I lift at the pinch weld noted in the manual and marked on the lower sill (small triangular indentation). I purchased mine from EASTWOOD years ago---I found a similar one on AMAZON---It may need to be shortened to fit correctly. ALSO- I had to turn down the center bung to fit my jack...
PS- I like the hockey puck idea!

flygteye · Dec 2, 2015

I got one of these. Works great!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/VW-Volkswag...t-jetta-bug-/231273270719?hash=item35d8f60dbf

vidman · Dec 3, 2015

You need to be sure the weight of the car is actually being lifted by the Pinch Welds, if these jack addons do not bottom out on the welds then you do risk serious damage to the sills or underbody which will not be covered by warranty.

ColinStone · Dec 3, 2015

Standard flat hockey puck works just fine. Many garage lift arms just have a solid rubber pad which is placed under the pinch weld by the indented triangle on the sill.

cldlhd · Dec 3, 2015

vidman said:
You need to be sure the weight of the car is actually being lifted by the Pinch Welds, if these jack addons do not bottom out on the welds then you do risk serious damage to the sills or underbody which will not be covered by warranty.

I agree, I got a jack pad on eBay where the groove is too deep (1 and 1/8"), the dark blue one , but I saw another where the groove is only 5/8" and I think that would work better, the light blue one.

Johnny Blaze · Dec 3, 2015

Im using nothing and have no issues...

cldlhd · Dec 3, 2015

Johnny Blaze said:
Im using nothing and have no issues...

When you say you're using nothing do you mean you don't ever jack up your car or that you just use a trolley jack with no add ons? If the jack has a rubber lift pad I could see that but I wouldn't want metal to metal contact at a lift point. It snows where I live so there's a lot of road salt and I plan on keeping the car awhile.

proton · Dec 3, 2015

Another vote for the hockey puck. I had a friend machine a slot in one to the same profile as the jack saddle, but in actual fact I'm sure the slot isn't even necessary. As said before, make certain the pinch weld is supporting the car and not the body either side - don't use a puck or anything similar with a deep groove.

Rod Paine · Dec 7, 2015

proton said:
Snip... As said before, make certain the pinch weld is supporting the car and not the body either side - don't use a puck or anything similar with a deep groove.

I've seen two 'puck' failures, one that had the grove made by a grinding wheel and the other made by hack sawing the groove in the puck. Personally, I don't trust such use, having seen two failures. I use lifting blocks made from 1 by 3 inch steel stock with a grove milled into it, as shown here.

http://www.mye28.com/tech/rods_pages/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/liftblock_0.jpg

I'v used these metal blocks on a number of different vehicles with 'pinch welds' of various sizes and it works well... using it on my EZcarlift as well as with indivdual floor jacks of various brands.
-Rod

xl1200r · Dec 7, 2015

so much science and engineering going on for no reason. The car is designed to be lifted by the pinch weld. If you want to save the paint finish on it, throw a scrap piece of wood on the jack.

Many commercial lifts do not have rubber pads on the lifting arms. Do you think your mechanic is bothering to cut up hockey pucks to put on there?

cldlhd · Dec 7, 2015

No because he probably doesn't give a shit about the car but I do.

wave · Dec 7, 2015

A piece of 2x4 wood is more than sufficient for supporting the car at any of the jacking points shown in the owner's manual without any damage to the car.

jack points

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